All Rise...

The Charge

"No job is too big, no pup is too small!"

The Case

PAW Patrol is a newer addition to the Nickelodeon block of programming
known as Nick Jr. It fits in well, but it also etches out its own space in the
pantheon by taking a different direction in terms of what it attempts to
convey.

PAW Patrol is the story of Ryder (Owen Mason) and his platoon of
talented pups who band together to save their little oceanside town of Adventure
Bay from mishaps big and small. Each of the pups drives their own little form of
transportation which corresponds with their special interest. There's Rocky
(Stuart Ralston), the recycling pup who drives a green machine. Marshall (Drew
Davis) is the firehouse dog and he steers a fire truck. Rubble (Devan Cohen) is
the construction pup and he drives a yellow construction digger. Chase (Tristan
Samuel) is the police puppy and he steers a police cruiser. Skye (Kallan Holley)
takes to the air in her airstream motorhome which transforms into a helicopter.
Zuma (Alex Thorne) is the aquatic puppy and he has a hovercraft. Even Ryder gets
his own vehicle, a jet ski which also serves as a snowmobile and ATV.

Each episode of PAW Patrol plays out roughly the same way. Either one
of the citizens of Adventure Bay or the puppies will bring a problem to Ryder's
attention. Once Ryder knows about it he summons all the puppies to The Lookout,
their base of operations. When everyone is assembled Ryder doles out the
assignments and the gang gets to work.

PAW Patrol contains 10 episodes from the first season…

• "Pups Save the Sea Turtles" When baby sea turtles hatch
at the beach it's up to the PAW Patrol to get them to the water.

• "Pups and the Very Big Baby" A baby whale beaches herself
and the pups must find a way to return her to sea before she dries out too
much.

• "Pups and the Kitty-tastrophe" The pups may be in over
their heads when an adorable yet mischief-prone kitten needs help finding her
owner.

• "Pups Save a Train" The PAW Patrol is called in to help
when their friends' train breaks down and they become stranded on a patch of
breaking tracks.

• "Pup Pup Boogie" The pups are frantic when the new
shipment of their favorite game, Pup Pup Boogie 2, is trapped on a train which
cannot get into town.

• "Pups in a Fog" There are a few boats stuck on the Bay
with a dangerous fog rolling in. The pups are on the case to prevent a
crash!

• "Pup Pup Goose" When a flock of geese stay the night at
The Lookout one of them goes astray and it's up to the PAW Patrol to return him
to his family.

• "Pups Save the Circus" When the train carrying the circus
performers is delayed it's up to the PAW Patrol to fill in and entertain the
crowd.

• "Pup a Doodle Do" The pups unexpectedly find themselves
on TV when they help find a wayward Chickaletta.

PAW Patrol values teamwork above all else. It isn't concerned with
teaching kids about basic skills needed in school such as counting, color
recognition, or shape identification. Rather, it concerns itself with
demonstrating how to be a member of a team and how to identify and solve
problems.

The video is a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and it approaches the
boundaries of compression artefacting, however it's just far enough away to be
safe. My only real issue with the video is a lack of depth and texture at times.
This world seems almost too clean and clear, however those may very well be the
things which attract and hold the target audience's attention. The audio is a
welcome surprise as we get a Dolby 5.1 track which isn't really tested except
during the rambunctious theme song.

There are no special features.

I'm always a fan of shows that aim to teach kids things which will actually
be useful in the real world. PAW Patrol fits the bill, as it tries to
educate the audience about being a team player as well as approaching problems
and solving them through easily adoptable methods. Plus, with so many puppies,
there's sure to be one which appeals to your little ones.